Financial
remittances from Somaliland Diaspora communities living outside the
country are perhaps the most outstanding feature of the Somaliland
economy. Seventy percent of Somaliland’s population is unemployed.
But the biggest
source of income for the country are remittances, the money sent
back by Somalilanders overseas. An American reporter who has been
here said in his paper. "Up to a quarter or more Somaliland’s people
now living abroad .There is a new Somali saying “We are a nation of
immigrants who depend on other immigrants”. According to some
estimates 40% of Somaliland’s income comes from relatives now
living abroad.
Remittances are
more common in the whole Somaliland. Sending or remitting money is
done through Hawala, a traditional way of transferring money between
members of a single community, based on trust, the sender identifies
the receiver, according to his clan, sub-clan and so on. As soon as
you have sent money to your relative, you can send them an email to
let them know. It takes just 24 hours or less to arrive in Hargeisa
,thousand miles away’’ said one manager of the Hawala Companies”.
Migrants working
or living in the West, North America and the Middle East send
millions of dollars home every year. There’s no official data and
remittance companies (Hawala) are reluctant to report. But my
research estimates that remittances to Somaliland is $900 million to
$1 billion per year. Dahabshiil, the biggest Money transfer in
the region remitted $800 million last year, Sahan which is the
youngest, transferred last year $200 million.
Some social groups
have a higher percentage of their members in the Diaspora than
others, this means those who have more relatives abroad receive
higher remittances.
Women play an
important role as both remitters and recipients of money. In many
families their sources of remittances are female. The flow of
remittances is fairly regular, but increases in times of economic
stress, during drought and hardship times. Another important point
to mention is that, the pattern of remittances becomes a source to
develop the country. Many cities in the country had their community
in the Diaspora send money to rebuild their homeland infrastructure.
Some began to invest business and income generation sources.
Whatever happens Somaliland immigrants abroad will continue to remit
money to relatives they do not know in a country they might never
have visited. It is surely a blessing in disguise.
